āReallyā¦ trulyā¦ guhā¦ I, Iām soā¦ sorryā¦ā
He had known Phianse for more than a decade, but for the first time, she apologized.
āS, stopā¦whyā¦ are you like thatā¦ā
āIām so, sorryā¦ Earthā¦ā¦ uhā¦ā
āEh, me too!ā
Thatās why that single āIām sorryā resonated so heavily with me.
āā¦ā¦ Me tooā¦ā
My mouth was naturally moving too.
I was sorry, too.
But what was I sorry for?
What am I trying to apologize for?
For not noticing Phianseās feelings?
For not living up to her expectations?
For making her cry?
I canāt figure out what I need to apologize for. But when I look at Phianse now, was it all my fault, and sheās just a poor victim?
I donāt think so.
And the answer came naturally.
āIā¦ maybe I was only thinking about myselfā¦ā
Thatās what I thought.
If Phianse was acting with everything in mind for her own convenience, then I was only thinking about myself, and I was covering my ears thinking that all the voices around me were irritating noise.
āThatās whyā¦ I was alsoā¦ wrongā¦ Iām sorry.ā
āā¦ā¦ Earthā¦ā
Iāve apologized to Phianse several times before.
But that apologyā¦
āā As you are now, wonāt you be a disappointment to your father, the hero, Earth?
āā I, I lack, the dignity, princessā¦
It was a frivolous thing, nothing heartfelt about it.
So, in that sense, it might have been my first time too.
āNo, Iām the oneā¦ā
āNo, no, Iā¦ certainly responded to you with condescending sarcasmā¦ā
āThatās because I was nagging you without knowing how you feelā¦ā
āWell, if it was just how you felt about meā¦ Iām sorry I didnāt notice anything about itā¦ that I couldnāt live up to your expectationsā¦ā
āD, donāt say that! Me and everyone just forced it on you!ā
I apologize to Phianse because I felt I was at fault.
That said, my apology made Phianse flustered.
āBesides, I didnāt just do things that were convenient for meā¦ umā¦ā¦ I also said various things to keep the girls in class from falling in love with youā¦ I really did something awful! Iām sorry!ā
āNo, no, thatās ā¦ā¦ not a big ā¦ā¦ deal, huh?ā
In response to my apology, Phianse was like, āNo, Iām the one whoās at fault,ā and I was like, āNo, I am too,ā and we apologized again, only this time I couldnāt help but respond.
āNoā¦ no, noā¦ā
āEarth?ā
āItāsā¦ certainlyā¦ā¦ thatās rightā¦ā
āā¦ā¦ Huh?ā
I remembered. Speaking of which, it was like that every single time.
āNo, lookā¦ thatās what people around me were always like, āAre you still the son of a hero?ā. But sometimes you would be there? The girls in class wouldā¦ā
So, for exampleā¦
āāButā¦ the princess is really impressive, butā¦ā¦ Earth is pretty strong, too.
āāYes, heās a little withdrawn, but looks a bit wild and coolā¦
āāHis household is wealthy, tooā¦
The girls in class reacted with a pulse. They were blushing and praising me.
Even though I was only interested in Sadiz, I was honestly happy and embarrassed.
I couldnāt beat the princess, but I was second in my grade, which means Iām an honor student in my class.
On top of that, I have a good family background, so normally girls wouldnāt leave them alone.
Butā¦
āāThere seems to be a little misunderstanding. Certainly, he is talented, his face may not be bad, and he comes from a wealthy family. But, he also has a twisted side too. His character is considerably demonic, and tends to be disobedient at times. Also, more than anything, when I was a child, he rudely peeked at my underwear, and he still hides smutty books in his room. The other day, I heard from his maid that he had hidden a double-bottomed drawer and even set up a magic trap to hide them. No, that isnāt good for the boys of his age, but heās hiding something obscene. His appearance itself isnāt bad, but the eyes are pretty bad, no, I donāt think itās wild and masculine, itās just bad. His family is also wealthy, and his parents are two respectable heroes. However, his upbringing is too lenient, and he was spoiled growing up. You donāt want that, do you? No, but itās not that heās not working hard. He studies and trains very hard just so he can beat me. While he seems to not care about losing, I have witnessed his figure working hard in shadows without anyone noticing, still, th-that is, yes. He has no delicacy towards girls. Yes, thatās why you should definitely stop aiming for him.
She talked so fast and blurted out a lot of bad things about me to the girls.
And when the girls heard that, they were smilingā¦
āāUfufufu, oh we understand, princess.
āāAmong usā¦ No, I donāt think any girl in the Imperial city is aiming to be Earthās girlfriend.
āāRight~āŖ
And that being said, I didnāt have many sweet and sour memories of the Academy.
āThatās right, no matter how you think about it, thatās terrible! No one would accept meā¦ and in the midst of all that twisting and turning, you ragged on me in a rage to all the girls who might have maybe liked me!ā
āAh, uh, uh, thatāsā¦ā
āYeah! Iām getting pissed off all over again just remembering that! If I could have even one good memory at the Academy, maybe something would have changed!ā
āTh, thatās because Iām glad when Earth is praised, butā¦ when Earth becomes popular, or when a girl other than me was wooing Earthā¦ I, I didnāt like itā¦ā
āNuwha, h, how selfish! Even with such a despondent expression, that is terrible!ā
āUh, uh, uh, I, Iām really sorry. It, itās not something that can be forgiven by apologizing, butā¦ really the worst thing you can do as a personā¦ huh? But didnāt you just say that you only had eyes for Sadiz at the time?!ā
āThatās that! This is this!ā
āNuwha?! What is that nonsense way of thinking! In other words, you want to get along with other girls even though you have someone you love, or something like that!ā
āI wonāt go that far, but no, but who knows what would happenā¦ā
āYoooouuu, you didnāt notice my feelings in the slightest! No, itās my fault for not telling you, butā¦ But! Iām awful, but is that even an option?!ā
āNo, Iām only human! Even if theyāre not my type, when a girl seeks your attentionā¦ it feels good! Even though they were making so much noise about Rebal and Fu, Iām the only one left out!ā
āWha, what is that! Itās a bit pathetic!ā
Somehow, after emotionally cursing at each other a while ago, she apologized for her shenanigansā¦ then again, we argued.
But I wonder whyā¦
āGe, generally speaking, it seems youāre a perv to begin with, even if youāre not! And the genre of books you had was dangerous! [The Magic School Panties Collection], [I Made a Warrior Candidate Say āKuh, Kill Meā], or [Seduced at the Graduation Ceremony, The Magical Mirror Carriage], and so on, that depicted students in uniforms like ours in an obscene manner!ā
āOuna gave those to me as a token of friendship after transferring schoolsā¦ until then we never interacted?! Iām telling you, I didnāt choose to collect any of them!ā
āBut you must have read them! Because the books had creases!ā
āI receive it, Iāll look at it! Of course I read them!ā
āWhy are you saying that so arrogantly?!ā
āThatās what men do! I mean, who are you to talk when you stole erotica from someoneās room without permission! Whatās the matter with you?!ā
āKuhahaā¦ jeez, give me a break, Phianse isā¦ā
That? I wonder why.
Weā¦ā¦
āFuā¦ aha.ā
āKuhahahaha.ā
Weāre laughing.
āFufuā¦whyā¦ Iā¦ soonerā¦ā
āHuh?ā
āWhy couldnāt I have exposed ā¦ā¦ everything more like thisā¦ even my unseemly jealousyā¦ I need you to see that ugly part as wellā¦ if you donāt accept my true self, it wouldnāt mean anythingā¦ā
Phianse smiled and fell on her back on the clouds.
I sat down next to her and laughed as I watched Phianse smile like a girl of her age.
āThatās rightā¦ weāve been together for over a decadeā¦ there are things that you canāt understand just by being togetherā¦ after all, I didnāt know what to put into words, I misunderstood thingsā¦ whether itās a childhood friendā¦ā¦ or a parent-child relationship.ā
āā¦ā¦ Hmmā¦ā
āIn that sense, Coman is the same.ā
āā¦ā¦ Oh.ā
Nodding at Phianseās words, a slightly somber air flowed through us.
And Phianseā¦
āEarthā¦ wonāt you go back to the Imperial City? No excuses, no explanation, no matter whatā¦ā
āNo excuses, no explanation, no matter what, because I have no regrets about my actions and the power I used, the power I acquired.ā
āCome to think of itā¦ thatās right. About thatā¦ would you tell me?ā
āHmmā¦ Hmm~ā¦ā
Phianseās question turned to āthat momentā.
That was when I used the Great Magic Spiral in the Imperial match.
But, was this a good time to say it? Phianse laughed bitterly at my hesitationā¦
āI see. Then, not now.ā
āā¦ā¦ Huh?ā
āIām not going to ignore your feelings and ask you to talk about something difficult. Just let me know when you can talk.ā
Phianse saw my hesitation and pulled away.
It was a bit surprising. In the first place, she must have chased me to find out about it.
But apart from thatā¦
āBy the way, Kron and Shinobuā¦ do they know?ā
āNo. They donāt.ā
āI see, umā¦ thenā¦ā
She didnāt ask about the truth. Instead, she was checking to see if there were others who knew the truth.
And Kron and Shinobu didnāt know. At that moment, it seemed that Phianse clenched his fists slightly, but immediately peeked into my faceā¦
āSo, does Sadiz know?ā
āYeah. I told Sadiz.ā
āNu, muā¦ uh, I see.ā
I nodded sharply at the question.
Phianse pouted a little, but quickly exhaled and laughed again.
āEarth, Iām weaker than Sadiz right now.ā
āWell, it canāt be helped. Rebal and Fu are still no match for Sadiz.ā
āYeah, andā¦ Iā¦ Iāve never lost to you, but now I donāt feel like I can beat you. And now I feel like youāre stronger than Sadizā¦ā
āI donāt know about that. Iāve never fought Sadiz in a fight, and Iām sure we have some chemistryā¦ā
āWell, thatās goodā¦ thatās how it is.ā
ā?ā
āThatās just how much difference there is between you and me.ā
I mean, I donāt have to fight Sadiz like I did with Paripi and Jamdiāel.
But thatās not what the princess was trying to sayā¦
āI am still inexperienced. I still have to improve myself. There are things I need to do before declaring that I will bring you back or marry you, or anything like that. I, too, know only a small world, and I didnāt realize that I was a frog in a well.ā
āPhianseā¦ā
In a strong, determined tone, Phianse told me. Then she stood up and stared at the end of the endless skyā¦
āItās time to start from scratch. I wonāt lose to you, who wants to go out into the world and live freelyā¦as a princess, as a warrior, as a womanā¦ Iā¦ I will aim higher. Right now, from this moment.ā
āI see.ā
āOh, soā¦ you can do as you please. I canāt catch you as I am now.ā
Without any hesitation, I nodded back at her straight eyes and smiled, which was refreshing.
Andā¦ā¦
āEarth, I donāt need a farewell hug right now. No kissing, no intercourse.ā
āHey, who would do that?!ā
āFufufufu, butā¦ insteadā¦ā
The princess held out her right hand to meā¦
āWould you mind shaking hands with me?ā
Farewell? Reunion? Friendship? Or an oath? It could mean a lot of things, butā¦
āYeah, Iāll do my best. You do your best too.ā
āHmm.ā
At least today, we can go back to being childhood friends, and while feeling like weāve become true friends again, I shook the hand that was offered to me.
Authorās Note
I really appreciate your kindness. I didnāt update yesterday because it was Friday the 13th and it was bad luck.
With the feedback Iāve received over the past few days, Iām glad that weāve finally gotten the opinion of the Princess Flame Flash faction. Until now, I had not been able to bring Princess Ferguson to the forefront, but in fact, with the default setting that I can say now, Princess Phan Feihong was really going to be the first heroine.
As I mentioned at some point before, the story itself was originally planned to end with the first arc. As an initial setting flow that can be said now, in the middle of the Imperial Match, invaders from outer space appeared and the father defended his son and the people, saying, āI will protect my family even if I dieā and was taken away as it is. Then, the awakened son and his friends said, āDad, Iāll save you!ā and Dad was like āYouāve become so strongā, and with the spiral powered up by the fatherās magic powerā¦ no, he defeated the enemy with a Super Magic Spiral and somehow won. What happened to Earth, who realized the princessās feelings in the middle of the battle? That was the initial setting for this story.
However, the story received an unexpectedly strong response and was published in book form, so we were forced to change the schedule because we could no longer finish the story.
So I was frustrated that I had changed my plans and was only able to treat Princess Fingerflare Bombs unfavorably when she was actually a candidate for the first heroine. However, for better or worse, I was finally able to spotlight her, and now I am filled with the feeling that āI am finally ready to start againā.
Please donāt hate me, from now onā¦ please keep an eye on Princess Phianse from now on!!
And today, the second volume of the book is finally on sale. At the timing of the release of the second volume, I feel āOhā that the main story has arrived at the current situation in this way.
By the way, the book includesā¦ Shinobuās belly buttonā¦ Bro with his hat offā¦ ohohoho.
If we make it to Volume 3, we will be able to introduce the critically acclaimed āGoddessā, but to be honest, at the moment it is undecided. This is a world of merit competition, so I hope it will continue.